Bhakra water level plummets to 8 per cent; power generation cut by 20 per cent

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 28

The available storage in the reservoir at Bhakra Dam, which is crucial for supply of water for drinking and irrigation in the region, as well as for power generation, has plummeted to just 8 per cent of its total capacity.

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The low water level has adversely impacted power generation as well as the release of water for irrigation to the beneficiary states in the region.

Against a target of 1,337 million units for till date in the current fiscal, the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) has generated 1,080 million units, accounting for a reduction of about 20 per cent in production, sources said.

Last year, the BBMB had generated 1,909 million units during this period.

On Friday morning, the water level recorded in the reservoir at Bhakra Dam that lies on the Sutlej river, was 1,505.30 feet, as compared to 1561.16 feet on the same day last year. According to sources, the water level has fallen below this on only two occasions in the past 16 years, in 2009 and 2018.

At Pong Dam, that lies on the Beas, the level recorded was 1,298.57 feet against 1,345.58 feet last year. The maximum permissible level at Bhakra and Pong is 1,680 feet and 1,390 feet, respectively. The level at Thein Dam, which lies on the Ravi and is controlled by the Punjab Irrigation Department, the level was 1,652.65 feet. Last year it was 1,679.88 feet.

Data released by the Central Water Commission (CWC) on May 27 reveals that departure from the past 10-year average of water storage is minus 59 per cent for dams in Himachal Pradesh and minus 34 per cent for Punjab.

The current storage in the reservoir at Bhakra is 0.524 billion cubic meters (BCM), which is 8 percent of its total capacity of 6.229 BCM. The storage was 22 per cent at this time last year.

The current storage at Pong is 14 per cent as compared to 48 per cent last year while at Thein it is 34 per cent against 51 percent for the corresponding period last year, CWC data shows.

Given the low availability of water, BBMB officials are in constant touch with the state governments of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi to assess their respective demands for water and work out daily releases so that in addition to drinking water, only urgent demands for irrigation are catered to.

Deficient snow and rainfall during the preceding winters have been cited as the reason for low water storage. Further, unseasonal rain and snow in many parts of the Himalayas during May kept temperatures low, thereby reducing snow melt. Bhakra Dam, which lies on the Sutlej, is primarily snow-fed while the other two major dams in the region, Pong on the Beas and Thein on the Ravi are primarily rain-fed.